Album covers inspire, shock and tease

You don't get a second chance to make a first impression, so over the years music artists have relied on the visual cues of their album covers to help sell their product.

Sexy photos, dramatic images, optical illusions, striking colors and eye-catching fonts have all been used to grab attention, titillate and intrigue.

Album covers were vital in the vinyl heyday, but as consumers turned more and more to CDs and tapes, designers had to adapt to smaller canvases. And as the world migrated to digital consumption, an "album cover" became nothing more than a thumbnail image on your phone.

Still, vinyl has rebounded to a degree and every music release, regardless of format, still has some kind of visual attachment to generate interest, so the "album cover" lives on.

On this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran music critics Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe and musician/engineer John Baker guide you through the best and worst album covers, talking about the iconic art - plus their personal favorites - from the Beatles to today.

They also bust up long-believed myths about some album covers, talk about banned covers and answer important questions like "whose butt is that?," "what's in his pocket?" and "why does she look insane?"